Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Specifically, breast cancer is the most common cancer type for women, for whom it is either the 1st or 2nd leading cause of death, depending on ethnicity.
In recent years, one promising approach to real-time detection of breast cancer tumors has involved the use of special markers. These markers can selectively bind to cancer cells, and upon suitable light excitation will fluoresce (emit light), thus providing the surgeon a real-time real-space image of the tumor and its margins. The markers are typically in the red or near infrared wavelength range to avoid tissue autofluorescence in the visible range and have increased depth penetration. However, there is currently no system solution enabling robust and rapid real-time detection of breast cancer tumors using fluorescent markers.
Meanwhile, the use of lasers in the medical theater has been steadily increasing over time. Specifically, the use of lasers to ablate tumors has been explored in various surgical procedures. Lasers can be delivered to the surgical site via articulated arms or specialty fibers. However, the use of both an ablation laser and a simultaneous fluorescent detection scheme would require the operation of two sensitive devices which are required to reference the same coordinate system, thus complicating surgery and depriving surgeons of much-needed dexterity.